Notes from the recent Engineering Leadership SIG Meeting, November 18, 2010.
Tools for Team: A Panel Discussion on Collaborative Tools for Product Development
Co-Moderators: Ron Lichty & Tam Nguyen
Panelists: Sasha Ovsankin, Sandeep Jain, Chris Lunt, David Etheridge
Introduction by Tam Nguyen
Short presentation by Steve of Agile Learning Labs – note that there is a CSM course this weekend – with Chris Sims
Panel (see full names above)
Sasha is with a medical imaging startup
Chris is VP-Engineering with ReadyForce, his 8th startup
Sandeep’s focus is on productivity
David is working on Enterprise rollout
Ron: It’s hard not to be regretful after acquiring a tool and rolling it out, isn’t it?
Poll of audience: tools of interest?
Requirements management; project management, bug tracking, document management, lifecycle management, Agile support tools, defect/requirements tracking (customer-facing), adoption analytics, compliance (quality/conformance), wireframing, code review tools / 3-way merge tool, architecture / design patterns, code metrics, web conferencing
Question A: Creating Requirements and Selection Criteria
How do you know what you’re looking for?
Chris: ask peers, people I trust
Sandeep: it varies by stage (of the development group & company)
Sasha: transparency – “it just works”; allows everyone to see all the data;
Enjoyable to use
Sandeep: minimize overhead for developer
Sasha: input should be where the information happens
[discussion of whether these tools are “collaborative” tools]
Requirements-related tools ---
David: written requirements … Engineering response to PRD – the manager or leader has to break it down into sentences, then link tasks to each one;
It requires a human to understand the requirements!
Sasha: … and requires agreement by multiple groups
Selection: consensus – try it out; find an advocate who sells it to the team
The panel is generally in favor of SAAS, rather than on-premises servers/services
Question B: Adoption – How does adoption fail?
Chris: need cross-functional support (e.g., Product Management)
What are key success factors?
David: no greater burden than today (for users)
Ron: intersection between team & company vs. tools? Q: a lot of contractors with backgrounds using different tools – how to deal with this?
Sasha: has to be easy to learn / use
Chris: assign a peer to help the contractor get integrated with team & tools
Sandeep: embed the process in the tools
David: (regarding “resistance”) I make an agreement with my engineers: you enter (task) data, and I will deal with the upper management demands [on your time]
Question C: Favorite tools / recommended tools
Sasha: Pivotal Tracker; Freemind (mind mapping);
Tam: Xmind (mind mapping)
Chris: TRAC – wiki / source browser; (Redmine – not as good); GIT (but it doesn’t move back in time so well); Selenium (web testing)
Sandeep: SWplanner / HP Quality Center; Perforce; TeamTrack
David: Jira + Subversion, Bamboo, Crucible, Fisheye, Bugzilla + Yahoo Sprint Mgr
Audience questions
(Note: the audience had no major users of Rally Agile tools, Sprint 360)
(Cooperation tools, like wikis, blogs: wiki – about 50% use them; blogs – about 6 people out of 50 in the audience)
Sasha: continuous integration – an important part of Agile;
[unknown]: get Product Managers to write acceptance criteria
David: described using a Plan of Record (vs. PRD and Engineering response); tell executives “let them [engineers] solve puzzles” and get out of the way; if the PRD is too detailed, they will get passive-aggressive on you.
Much agreement from the audience on having seen PRDs that said too much about what to build (and how), rather than what function is to be delivered
--------------------------------------------------------------
John Levy helps business managers who are frustrated by the lack of results they are getting from IT or Engineering. He specializes in rapidly getting high-tech teams to align with business strategy and to contribute to business success of the enterprise.
John has been consulting for managers in industry for over 20 years. John’s book on management for technology executives, Get Out of the Way, was published in May 2010. http://bit.ly/9pX1wS
For more information, please visit his website at http://johnlevyconsulting.com ,
Email him at info@johnlevyconsulting.com , or call 415 663-1818.
More...
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Action is what manifests a choice amongst infinite possibilities [Corinne Rattay]
I listen a lot to people in leadership positions, many of them being senior management in high-tech companies. What they tell me are stories of lack of empowerment, of how they "felt stuck" between "too clear" directions from a powerful GM, CTO or CEO and, on the other side, their Engineering organizations, remote or local. I'm borrowing some of their words here.
In fact, these senior Engineering leaders knew what wasn't working and what needed to happen to move their teams out of burnout, general frustration or acceptance of mediocrity. I'm sure you have experienced or seen situations such as this one. Their main problem was the same as what we see in nature all the time. Things remain as they are for usually a very long time until, one day, something new happens. A different idea, a new concept, a quantum leap. Who knows what I'm talking about?
We've noticed that quantum leaps happen as soon as a "catalyst" comes into play. I won't go into the details whether the catalyst is purely passive (as in a chemical reaction) or on the contrary very active inside the company into which he or she was brought in by the senior Engineering leader who finally has had the courage to step up and yell, at least in his or her imagination, "enough is enough, things have to change now!".
The truth is that action is what manifests a choice. Our world is a wonderful creation of infinite possibilities. As Albert Einstein had already taught us so well about the relativity of all things, even of time and space, I firmly believe that there is no absolute right or wrong. Everything must be seen from one or another perspective and it is futile to look for an absolute or so called "objective" perspective. Out of all the possibilities of how situations can evolve, humans have a tendency of wishing for a change in one way or another. Let's call it a "desire".
There's nothing wrong with having desires, actually this is a good thing since doing so drives imagination. And "imagination is more important than knowledge", as was adequately remarked by Albert Einstein also a long time ago.
So what is the key message to understand here? It is that action, yes, even a simple little action, done consistently from this moment onward, is the first step of manifesting a choice and moving towards a desire which we have. It's that simple: nothing changes from knowledge or imagination alone, but it is action that sets things apart.
The moment that we decide to act despite fear rather than waiting for the fear to go away or for the right moment to come (trust me it never will), this is when we set change into motion. What is it that you as a leader would like to change, specifically, and what are you waiting for?
------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
In fact, these senior Engineering leaders knew what wasn't working and what needed to happen to move their teams out of burnout, general frustration or acceptance of mediocrity. I'm sure you have experienced or seen situations such as this one. Their main problem was the same as what we see in nature all the time. Things remain as they are for usually a very long time until, one day, something new happens. A different idea, a new concept, a quantum leap. Who knows what I'm talking about?
We've noticed that quantum leaps happen as soon as a "catalyst" comes into play. I won't go into the details whether the catalyst is purely passive (as in a chemical reaction) or on the contrary very active inside the company into which he or she was brought in by the senior Engineering leader who finally has had the courage to step up and yell, at least in his or her imagination, "enough is enough, things have to change now!".
The truth is that action is what manifests a choice. Our world is a wonderful creation of infinite possibilities. As Albert Einstein had already taught us so well about the relativity of all things, even of time and space, I firmly believe that there is no absolute right or wrong. Everything must be seen from one or another perspective and it is futile to look for an absolute or so called "objective" perspective. Out of all the possibilities of how situations can evolve, humans have a tendency of wishing for a change in one way or another. Let's call it a "desire".
There's nothing wrong with having desires, actually this is a good thing since doing so drives imagination. And "imagination is more important than knowledge", as was adequately remarked by Albert Einstein also a long time ago.
So what is the key message to understand here? It is that action, yes, even a simple little action, done consistently from this moment onward, is the first step of manifesting a choice and moving towards a desire which we have. It's that simple: nothing changes from knowledge or imagination alone, but it is action that sets things apart.
The moment that we decide to act despite fear rather than waiting for the fear to go away or for the right moment to come (trust me it never will), this is when we set change into motion. What is it that you as a leader would like to change, specifically, and what are you waiting for?
------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Soliciting Engineering Leadership Horror Stories [Robert Lasater]
Today being Halloween, we are soliciting Engineering Leadership Horror Stories. We'd like your scariest, most frightening experiences as an engineering leader.
There are several caveats. Your story must have some edifying or redeeming quality. We are not soliciting gripe fests or posts that just slam coworkers.
Here are some suggestions for what we would like to see. Maybe you were able to take that terrifying situation and transform it into something at least somewhat positive. Or maybe the situation was too far gone to salvage, but you have insights into how to recognize (and prevent) something similar.
Also, because your story may be sensitive, we would welcome anonymous posting. However an anonymous posting will require a lengthier review process. So if you request anonymity, give us a few days to post your submission.
Please email your Engineering Leadership Horror Stories to rlasater@hotmail.com. We accept Word documents, HTML text and simple text files.
And as always, we reserve the right to edit, modify or even not accept proposed posts.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Lasater maintains the blog for theEngineering Leadership Special Interest Group of the SD Forum.
More...
There are several caveats. Your story must have some edifying or redeeming quality. We are not soliciting gripe fests or posts that just slam coworkers.
Here are some suggestions for what we would like to see. Maybe you were able to take that terrifying situation and transform it into something at least somewhat positive. Or maybe the situation was too far gone to salvage, but you have insights into how to recognize (and prevent) something similar.
Also, because your story may be sensitive, we would welcome anonymous posting. However an anonymous posting will require a lengthier review process. So if you request anonymity, give us a few days to post your submission.
Please email your Engineering Leadership Horror Stories to rlasater@hotmail.com. We accept Word documents, HTML text and simple text files.
And as always, we reserve the right to edit, modify or even not accept proposed posts.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Lasater maintains the blog for theEngineering Leadership Special Interest Group of the SD Forum.
More...
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
True Win-Win Commitment [Corinne Rattay]
In business, people often claim their willingness to offer win-win deals. Whether you're in the market for buying a new car as a consumer as I did last week, or whether you're interested in a specific solution or service from a preferred vendor when you're acting in your professional role, the words of "win-win" sound pretty good, even reassuring in a way. But let me ask you, what is a true win-win commitment according to you, really?
Maybe the question to ask ourselves first is why would anyone want to pursue anything else, such as win-lose or even lose-lose alternatives. I've seen many cases like these and I'm sure so have you. And, in all sincerity, I've probably occasionally acted in such less noble ways, unconsciously or even consciously. We are all on a path towards continual improvement and growth, aren't we after all?
I'd like to get concrete at this point. With our focus on Engineering Leadership what could this situation look like, if I may borrow a real-life case?
Let's say a company's executive team has the dilemma of needing to please a major customer generating $500 million of revenue this year and being requested to add a few vital software features into its current software release due next month. The release without those features is eagerly expected by a large percentage of the company's customer base and is on schedule to function according to expectations. The account team has just informed the GM and EVP that this major customer can only effectively deploy the release with these client-specific features due to certain late discoveries. Furthermore a significant portion of the projected revenue can only be recognized with general-availability software releases which are accepted as functional by the major customer. Sounds familiar?
If you have lived or are living in this kind of environment, some first thoughts may storm through your mind right now.
As a Product Manager your focus will be on initial software requirements coming from the customer and the account team. As VP of Engineering you are worried about the impact of last-minute code additions in sensitive parts of the software and the inability to perform full screening on the modified code. As Regional VP of Sales your concern is your major customer's success and continued business if the features don't make it into this release or if the software turns out to be defective with the additional features. As VP of Operations you are getting headaches but are willing to accommodate within your means regarding the logistical aspects of software distribution. As Program Manager you are seeing an equation now with last minute variables that don't add up with success unless someone puts together a miracle.
If you are a member of the Executive team a few scenarios may come to your mind immediately:
(1) accommodate the major customer, impair all other customers by delaying the release, maintain release quality & predictability of quality
(2) accommodate the major customer, keep the release on time, stretch the Engineering organization, accept reduced predictability of SW quality
(3) release official software on-time, maintain release quality & predictability of quality, work with major customer using additional beta releases in parallel containing these required changes while possibly deferring large revenue projections for your own company to the next fiscal year
(…) and there are more creative ones with the firm understanding that this may only be a one-time exception to the standard process and policies.
Reality, or life in itself, isn't simple. Add to it the wisdom that there is no such thing as a "one-time-only exception" because it will invariably set a new standard for the future inside the company.
So what can this real-life scenario teach us about the topic of a win-win commitment? Why is this concept so crucial in business and even beyond in our personal lives? What is so powerful about the concept of true win-win commitment that people get so attracted to working with other people who make it a habit of practicing this concept? Why does business and money flow so much better in this way?
Over the past eighteen months I've focused extensively on understanding human psychology and leadership in much more advanced and accelerated ways than my previous hi-tech industry leadership experience may have offered me. Healthy humans want to trust and want the other person to be trustworthy. And we would all live in harmony with this idea if many of us hadn't been deceived and over time had derived a world model of scarcity and survival of the fittest. Consider how society in general defines "winning". Whether you look at sports games where we all want to see one team win, this does infer that the other one may need to lose. Isn't this how most people, maybe not you or me, approach life?
Let's come back to our hi-tech company example: should the company's current quarter bottom line win and the executive team decide to implement the custom changes in a rush to keep the projected revenue while shielding obvious process shortcuts from the major customer and everyone else? How may this decision affect the company's reputation once software stability issues are discovered by most customers and they turn out to lose? Should the shareholders lose in the end once the company's reputation has been affected? Should the major customer lose and be blamed for not having specified these additional requirements explicitly? Should the company lose the projected revenue this quarter? Is there really a way that everyone can win in this case?
How do most people make decisions when a win-win deal isn't obvious to all involved parties? May they get emotional and be driven by fear of missing out on a possible gain? What is your personal experience with people you've worked with so far? Some may say "you can't please everybody" and they are certainly right. Some may state that "it would all have been easier if someone had done a better job discovering the issues earlier", effectively pushing responsibility away with blame.
The truth is that there is never an absolute beginning for the appearance of a specific problem. Don't things just unfold naturally until they reach an arbitrary threshold for someone to call it a problem? In life is there really such a thing as perfection? It is my belief that there are just opportunities to grow for the conscious executive and to maintain integrity and hard-earned trust with every single customer, with the various internal teams inside the company and indirectly with the long-term shareholders. His or her role is to be creative while involving true teamwork and openness with the major customer in this case and seek the best for all parties over time.
The readiness to put a significant portion of the projected quarterly revenue at stake when openly approaching the major customer may be the very key ingredient for actually both securing short-term revenue while also gaining incredible future business not even imagined. Add to this the continued trust gained from all customers over the past as well as the long-term gains for the company's shareholders when the executive team continuously meets and exceeds its previously established standards.
If I wanted to summarize I'd say "treat all other people the way you want to be treated even if it may seem at a cost to you. It takes courage, but in the end we all win."
------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Maybe the question to ask ourselves first is why would anyone want to pursue anything else, such as win-lose or even lose-lose alternatives. I've seen many cases like these and I'm sure so have you. And, in all sincerity, I've probably occasionally acted in such less noble ways, unconsciously or even consciously. We are all on a path towards continual improvement and growth, aren't we after all?
I'd like to get concrete at this point. With our focus on Engineering Leadership what could this situation look like, if I may borrow a real-life case?
Let's say a company's executive team has the dilemma of needing to please a major customer generating $500 million of revenue this year and being requested to add a few vital software features into its current software release due next month. The release without those features is eagerly expected by a large percentage of the company's customer base and is on schedule to function according to expectations. The account team has just informed the GM and EVP that this major customer can only effectively deploy the release with these client-specific features due to certain late discoveries. Furthermore a significant portion of the projected revenue can only be recognized with general-availability software releases which are accepted as functional by the major customer. Sounds familiar?
If you have lived or are living in this kind of environment, some first thoughts may storm through your mind right now.
As a Product Manager your focus will be on initial software requirements coming from the customer and the account team. As VP of Engineering you are worried about the impact of last-minute code additions in sensitive parts of the software and the inability to perform full screening on the modified code. As Regional VP of Sales your concern is your major customer's success and continued business if the features don't make it into this release or if the software turns out to be defective with the additional features. As VP of Operations you are getting headaches but are willing to accommodate within your means regarding the logistical aspects of software distribution. As Program Manager you are seeing an equation now with last minute variables that don't add up with success unless someone puts together a miracle.
If you are a member of the Executive team a few scenarios may come to your mind immediately:
(1) accommodate the major customer, impair all other customers by delaying the release, maintain release quality & predictability of quality
(2) accommodate the major customer, keep the release on time, stretch the Engineering organization, accept reduced predictability of SW quality
(3) release official software on-time, maintain release quality & predictability of quality, work with major customer using additional beta releases in parallel containing these required changes while possibly deferring large revenue projections for your own company to the next fiscal year
(…) and there are more creative ones with the firm understanding that this may only be a one-time exception to the standard process and policies.
Reality, or life in itself, isn't simple. Add to it the wisdom that there is no such thing as a "one-time-only exception" because it will invariably set a new standard for the future inside the company.
So what can this real-life scenario teach us about the topic of a win-win commitment? Why is this concept so crucial in business and even beyond in our personal lives? What is so powerful about the concept of true win-win commitment that people get so attracted to working with other people who make it a habit of practicing this concept? Why does business and money flow so much better in this way?
Over the past eighteen months I've focused extensively on understanding human psychology and leadership in much more advanced and accelerated ways than my previous hi-tech industry leadership experience may have offered me. Healthy humans want to trust and want the other person to be trustworthy. And we would all live in harmony with this idea if many of us hadn't been deceived and over time had derived a world model of scarcity and survival of the fittest. Consider how society in general defines "winning". Whether you look at sports games where we all want to see one team win, this does infer that the other one may need to lose. Isn't this how most people, maybe not you or me, approach life?
Let's come back to our hi-tech company example: should the company's current quarter bottom line win and the executive team decide to implement the custom changes in a rush to keep the projected revenue while shielding obvious process shortcuts from the major customer and everyone else? How may this decision affect the company's reputation once software stability issues are discovered by most customers and they turn out to lose? Should the shareholders lose in the end once the company's reputation has been affected? Should the major customer lose and be blamed for not having specified these additional requirements explicitly? Should the company lose the projected revenue this quarter? Is there really a way that everyone can win in this case?
How do most people make decisions when a win-win deal isn't obvious to all involved parties? May they get emotional and be driven by fear of missing out on a possible gain? What is your personal experience with people you've worked with so far? Some may say "you can't please everybody" and they are certainly right. Some may state that "it would all have been easier if someone had done a better job discovering the issues earlier", effectively pushing responsibility away with blame.
The truth is that there is never an absolute beginning for the appearance of a specific problem. Don't things just unfold naturally until they reach an arbitrary threshold for someone to call it a problem? In life is there really such a thing as perfection? It is my belief that there are just opportunities to grow for the conscious executive and to maintain integrity and hard-earned trust with every single customer, with the various internal teams inside the company and indirectly with the long-term shareholders. His or her role is to be creative while involving true teamwork and openness with the major customer in this case and seek the best for all parties over time.
The readiness to put a significant portion of the projected quarterly revenue at stake when openly approaching the major customer may be the very key ingredient for actually both securing short-term revenue while also gaining incredible future business not even imagined. Add to this the continued trust gained from all customers over the past as well as the long-term gains for the company's shareholders when the executive team continuously meets and exceeds its previously established standards.
If I wanted to summarize I'd say "treat all other people the way you want to be treated even if it may seem at a cost to you. It takes courage, but in the end we all win."
------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Magical Thinking and the Zero-Sum Roadmap [Rich Mironov]
Recent conversations at several clients highlight an often-repeated set of magical thinking: beliefs by internal clients that development resources are infinite, and beliefs by product managers that prioritization can convince anyone otherwise. Both are wrong, but seductive. Here goes…
The starting point for this conversation is the typical product roadmap: crammed full of prioritized work and heavily negotiated with the development team. Almost every optional item has been postponed, and there’s still some risk of delay. This is a product plan with no “white space,” no large chunks of unallocated engineering capacity, no slop or slush funds or hidden treasure.
More...
The starting point for this conversation is the typical product roadmap: crammed full of prioritized work and heavily negotiated with the development team. Almost every optional item has been postponed, and there’s still some risk of delay. This is a product plan with no “white space,” no large chunks of unallocated engineering capacity, no slop or slush funds or hidden treasure.
More...
Monday, October 4, 2010
How to become a successful Leader, and how to get started from where I am right now? [Corinne Rattay]
Humans admire successful leaders. From the well-known names of history to specific people in our industry, or maybe even inside the company we are currently working for, there are people we simply admire. If I asked you who holds such a special place for you, at least one person’s name would pop up in your mind within the first 10 seconds, wouldn’t it?
This is the Engineering Leadership Special Interest Group (ELSIG) of the Software Development Forum (SDForum). So I’ve decided to write about leadership, a topic which is very dear to my heart. You’ll understand more once you get to know me.
In my managerial hi-tech career I’ve had to lead teams of over 100 engineers across Silicon Valley, US East Coast and India towards putting out the best possible version of Network Operating Systems under tremendous time and budget pressure. Those of you who are at VP or director level can relate to this. What had never been done before needed to be approached boldly. And I’m sure your responsibilities may even be more challenging and exciting. Yes, excitement is an important driver isn’t it?
Maybe you have dreamed of engaging into a bigger leadership role at your present level in your career, wanting to become a little bit more like some of the inspiring leaders you’ve observed in your industry or company. I have at least, to be completely honest with you. I’ve wanted to become a successful leader myself for a long time. Not necessarily to play at the same level as the ones I admired, but at least become a better leader than I considered myself to be at that time. And I’ve struggled, as you can imagine. So, did that mean that true leadership wasn’t for me?
With your permission let me make in innocent guess here: I could assume that the people who have become successful leaders in our surrounding environment (i.e. company, industry, personal sphere, …) have all had a clear vision, clear goals and somehow were either incredibly skilled or fortunate to be on a path filled with success after success. It somehow looks like it, doesn’t it?
If you’re like me, you may object intellectually that this assumption isn’t reality. So how did these successful leaders get to where they are today? What is it that you or I had to or have to do differently compared to before this moment of decision?
Maybe you are an influential leader already and are merely reading this out of curiosity (which successful leaders typically do) or you are experiencing some resistance at this point in your life and I may simply share with you what I have learned over time which would have made life so much easier for me back then.
The first thing you should know about me is that I’ve made many mistakes and learned greatly from them. The truth is that I didn’t even have a clear vision of what successful leadership was really about. I’m not embarrassed to say today that a few years back I equated “successful” with “me” being successful, with “me” being “significant” (yes, let me cut right to it) in just the ways I saw successful leaders as being people “significant” to me in my eyes.
If I could only share one key insight with you, it would be that I’ve learned that successful leaders don’t focus on their own significance but on the significance and success of what they stand for. What they envision is so much bigger than their individuality in their own eyes. That’s why they succeed in making things so much better for everyone.
Ok, but let’s get back to where you and I may be right now. So can we grow towards the character, charisma and passion that come with the role of a successful leader? Yes, you probably know intellectually that this is indeed a possibility. How to get started though when one doesn’t have a clear vision, clear goals and the necessary skills (yet)?
I’ve learned a few crucial insights through personal experience, which I’d like to share with you in order to assist in whatever way may be useful on your journey if you choose so. In summary the most crucial ones I believe are below:
Skills of course are important also to become a successful leader. The key to really understand here is that they are not what is needed first on this journey. Speaking in front of a large audience, speaking up in a tense meeting and disagreeing for the sake of something bigger at stake, you name it. The truth is that you’ll acquire all the needed skills along your path as I have and am still doing.
In fact, this is a never-ending journey of personal and professional fulfillment once we’ve understood what life really is about.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
This is the Engineering Leadership Special Interest Group (ELSIG) of the Software Development Forum (SDForum). So I’ve decided to write about leadership, a topic which is very dear to my heart. You’ll understand more once you get to know me.
In my managerial hi-tech career I’ve had to lead teams of over 100 engineers across Silicon Valley, US East Coast and India towards putting out the best possible version of Network Operating Systems under tremendous time and budget pressure. Those of you who are at VP or director level can relate to this. What had never been done before needed to be approached boldly. And I’m sure your responsibilities may even be more challenging and exciting. Yes, excitement is an important driver isn’t it?
Maybe you have dreamed of engaging into a bigger leadership role at your present level in your career, wanting to become a little bit more like some of the inspiring leaders you’ve observed in your industry or company. I have at least, to be completely honest with you. I’ve wanted to become a successful leader myself for a long time. Not necessarily to play at the same level as the ones I admired, but at least become a better leader than I considered myself to be at that time. And I’ve struggled, as you can imagine. So, did that mean that true leadership wasn’t for me?
With your permission let me make in innocent guess here: I could assume that the people who have become successful leaders in our surrounding environment (i.e. company, industry, personal sphere, …) have all had a clear vision, clear goals and somehow were either incredibly skilled or fortunate to be on a path filled with success after success. It somehow looks like it, doesn’t it?
If you’re like me, you may object intellectually that this assumption isn’t reality. So how did these successful leaders get to where they are today? What is it that you or I had to or have to do differently compared to before this moment of decision?
Maybe you are an influential leader already and are merely reading this out of curiosity (which successful leaders typically do) or you are experiencing some resistance at this point in your life and I may simply share with you what I have learned over time which would have made life so much easier for me back then.
The first thing you should know about me is that I’ve made many mistakes and learned greatly from them. The truth is that I didn’t even have a clear vision of what successful leadership was really about. I’m not embarrassed to say today that a few years back I equated “successful” with “me” being successful, with “me” being “significant” (yes, let me cut right to it) in just the ways I saw successful leaders as being people “significant” to me in my eyes.
If I could only share one key insight with you, it would be that I’ve learned that successful leaders don’t focus on their own significance but on the significance and success of what they stand for. What they envision is so much bigger than their individuality in their own eyes. That’s why they succeed in making things so much better for everyone.
Ok, but let’s get back to where you and I may be right now. So can we grow towards the character, charisma and passion that come with the role of a successful leader? Yes, you probably know intellectually that this is indeed a possibility. How to get started though when one doesn’t have a clear vision, clear goals and the necessary skills (yet)?
I’ve learned a few crucial insights through personal experience, which I’d like to share with you in order to assist in whatever way may be useful on your journey if you choose so. In summary the most crucial ones I believe are below:
- a clear direction you feel compelled moving into will do perfectly in the absence of a fully developed vision; you can refine and make things concrete along the path.
- get in touch with the person you want to become; catch yourself acting like him/her every once in a while and rejoice yourself; be passionate about it.
- getting started is not a matter of skills but of clarity of the path you want to pursue and the level of motivation for yourself; have absolute clarity of why you want to be on this path and what you’ll need to give up if you don’t.
- take one step at a time instead of overwhelming yourself; don’t try to swallow the entire mountain or elephant in one bite; let things unfold, make one thing better than it is today through your own action and keep doing it consistently.
- adopt a “responsibility vs. victim” attitude; whatever happens around you, understand that you still have the freedom of choice of how to respond.
- cultivate your value system; develop integrity, trust and passion for what you do and for the people you’re interacting with
Skills of course are important also to become a successful leader. The key to really understand here is that they are not what is needed first on this journey. Speaking in front of a large audience, speaking up in a tense meeting and disagreeing for the sake of something bigger at stake, you name it. The truth is that you’ll acquire all the needed skills along your path as I have and am still doing.
In fact, this is a never-ending journey of personal and professional fulfillment once we’ve understood what life really is about.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Corinne Rattay works with senior hi-tech executives on strategic leadership, breakthrough communication and effective execution, helping her clients to achieve extraordinary results. She can be reached at crattay@crexecutiveconsulting.com or at www.CRexecutiveconsulting.com
More...
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Whose English is it Anyway? [Kimberly Wiefling]
My work takes me from my home in the San Francisco Bay Area, where more than 50% of the people living here don’t speak English at home, to Japan and elsewhere around the world nearly every month. I have the distinct honor and pleasure of working with people from all over the world, and recently had an incredible adventure with 37 people from 12 different countries who all came together as a global team to propose the future direction of their company. It’s an incredible experience to work with such a diverse group, and a heck of a challenge due to the most basic of reasons – we all speak different languages.
Even though all members usually speak some version of “English”, it might as well be Klingon. There’s the traditional British English, and many more, including Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English, Canadian English, English of “the islands”, African English, Singapore English, East Indian English, as well as heavily accented versions of Spanish English, German English, French English, and the worst of the worst – American. Without modifications, or an interpreter, no sustained meaningful communication is possible among these disparate groups.
If you’re a native English speaker, working in a global team, you need to stop speaking English. Stop speaking YOUR English, that is – if you want to understand, and be understood by your colleagues. Delving a bit more deeply into the various versions of the so-called “shared language” called English based on my own personal experience:
Americans – Strictly speaking you don’t speak “English”. You speak “American”. It’s different. Just listen to someone from New Zealand speaking English and you’ll know exactly what I mean. Or catch a couple of idiom-laden blurbs of British English from a person from the UK. You won’t understand what they’re saying, and they’ll be horrified when you start talking about your“fanny pack”.
UK People – For people who didn’t grow up with British English as their native language, no one will have a clue what you mean when you start complaining about the “tallback” that delayed your arrival at work.
East Indian Colleagues – As an American Native English speaker, I reluctantly admit that I can’t understand more than 70% of “Hinglish” because the emPHAsis is on a difFERent sylLAble than I am accustomed to.
Singapore – “Singlish” is musical and beautiful, but – unless I watch your lips every moment, and assure that my attention doesn’t drift in the least – I can only understand about 50% of what you are saying.
Australians – It’s not as bad as listening to someone from Texas or Georgia, but it’s pretty tough to understand you, mates!
New Zealand Colleagues – Really, I get such a headache focusing on what you are saying that it makes the Australian accent seem almost easy to understand. As I mentioned previously, listening to you is not quite as challenging as understanding people from my own country who hail from Texas or Georgia, but it’s pretty darn demanding.
There are other examples, but you get the idea. I don’t want to beat a dead horse (sorry, I couldn’t resist).
The former CEO of ABB, Percy Barnevik, stated that the official language of the company was “bad English”. I almost agree, but I reject the negative connotations of “bad English” in favor of “Global English”. And a CEO of a Korean company advised his people that it’s more important to speak badEnglish than good Korean.
Although I’m sure that most people assume that they are perfectly understandable to others when they speak English (especially my American colleagues!) in my experience they all might as well be speaking entirely different languages. The solution is not to speak English. The solution is for ALL of us to STOP speaking English and START speaking GLOBAL English.
I’m not a linguist, but here’s a few things I’ve learned about effective communications among global teams:
- Do your L.A.P.S.s.s.s!
- Loud – Speak loudly so people can at least receive the soundwaves.
- Attention – Make sure you visually make contact with the person you’re talking with before starting to speak to them. Eye contact varies greatly across cultures, and can be uncomfortable, but is critical to beginning a conversation.
- Pause – Many non-native English speakers are “translating in their head”. Although not ideal, it’s a reality that they will need a few seconds to grock (sorry!) what you said.
- Slow – Speak slowly . . . painfully slowly. Imagine you are speaking in molasses, then slow down even more.
- Simple – Use simple words. Native English speakers use over 5000 different works, but non-native speakers use something like 500 – 1500. Don’t go showing off your vocabulary if you want to be understood.
- Short – Short sentences. No long-winded phraseology, with obscure references to previous clauses.
- Smile – If they can’t understand you, at least they’ll like you!
- No idioms, slang, obscure references.
- Don’t never use no double negatives!
In my experience, it’s not just European, Asian, South American or African people who need to change how they communicate. EVERYONE needs to adopt Global English in order to assure that 21st century global company teams can understand each other.
STOP speaking English. If you are a so-called “native” English speaker, DEFINITELY stop speaking English! START speaking GLOBAL ENGLISH. It’s better for you, it’s better for your colleagues, it’s better for your company, and it’s better for your business profitability.
If we truly are going to realize the dream of a global economy where we collaborate across time zones and cultural boundaries for mutual benefit, we ALL need to change the way we communicate. Let’s not wait for “other people” to change so that it’s easier for us to communicate. Let’s all share the responsibility for improving communication and moving toward a truly global economy.
It’s in ALL of our best interests to make the pie bigger instead of arguing over who gets the crumbs. That win-win scenario begins with speaking a common language, and it's not as easy as just saying "English". It's GLOBAL English. Give it a shot (sorry again!).
Originally published on CareerShorts.com where Kimberly has been invited to contribute blogs periodically on global leadership and project management.
More...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
